Is it moral to eat meat? ***Constructive Discussion ONLY***

[greyfields]

Quote:
I may have over-simplified, but heart disease is the leading killer. Heart disease is known to be complicated by both blood pressure and cholesterol. Cholesterol from grain fed animals is 'bad' where as from grass fed it's at least 'neutral'. But, since almost all our meat is grain fed, our over-consumption of meat surely increases the population's risk for heart disease. I think the two are connected.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

greyfields
Please be more specific, are you saying we should make all the domestic and wild animals pets and license, spay and neuter them, make commerical food for them? These animals came in to existence due to human meddling, breeding and domestication? Stop eating them and the numbers will dwindle? I am confused.

Are You Confused? by Paavo Airola a vegetarian author of one of my first health books a great read. I have gone both ways but have always been health concious.

 

[warcard]

Quote:
I guess peoples philosophy here should be "don't knock it, until you try it"

My sister said she doesn't like to eat "Bambi" ie venison, but here's a story. My cousins go hunting with a bunch of guys who are the bad

type of hunter, just want to shoot stuff

. Luckily my cousins take the meat with them so my Aunt always has a freezer full of venison. Most of the family understands this. We went over one day and had steaks, my sister ate two, we told her afterward that it was deer. Her response "I knew it tasted funny!". My question then why did you have two?

Again, I don't think I could eat insects, dogs, cats, brain, etc. But that is the culture I grew up in, maybe if you didn't tell me what it was I would be able to. But I don't think that should preclude me from eating the forms of meat I am used to.

 

[me&thegals]

Actually, regarding the above, I keep reading that blood cholesterol is MORE associated with a diet high in simple carbs (like high-fructose corn syrup) than actually eating cholesterol from food.

By the way, there are actually some people out there who don't eat ANYthing they have killed, including veggies and fruits. They are called "fruitarians" as opposed to vegetarians. Google them. My sister read an article about them. This method of eating requires a person to literally wait for the apple to fall from the tree before consuming it, or scavenge for grains that have fallen from the stalks. Needless to say, my sister claims a picture of their grocery store showed rather sparce shelves and gaunt-looking customers

Just thought I'd toss this one into the mix, since the argument keeps coming up that we HAVE to kill SOMEthing to eat. Hmmm..... I wonder about roadkill animals?

 

[chcknrs]

Quote:
I may have over-simplified, but heart disease is the leading killer. Heart disease is known to be complicated by both blood pressure and cholesterol. Cholesterol from grain fed animals is 'bad' where as from grass fed it's at least 'neutral'. But, since almost all our meat is grain fed, our over-consumption of meat surely increases the population's risk for heart disease. I think the two are connected.

They are definitely connected. Too many people in this country are "meat and potatoes" folk, including my DH. However, since he had a scare with chest pain, he is much better about eating his veggies and eating all natural meats.

Unfortunately, he is also getting better at spotting the meals that I make without meat! Thinks he's gotta have it every day!

At least he'll eat spinach now.....

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
To expand on this: in this context, it's worth distinguishing between grain-fed animals, which DO indeed reduce the total amount of food available to humans, versus grass-fed animals (at least if they are on pasture that is inherently not viable as longterm cropland).

Animals raised on pasture -- or more generally, eating things that people cannot or will not, such as a lot of the stuff traditionally swilled out to pigs or chickens -- *increase* the total food availability to humans, since they're "built of" stuff that we ourselves could not / would not eat.

Pat

 

[meriruka]

Quote:
Your right, to me it does!

I found one of the hardest things about being vegetarian was laziness. After being used to slapping some kind of meat in a pan, vegetarian cooking with all natural ingredients looked like hard work. At first I tried meat "substitutes" . Yuck. I don't recommend those. ( I skip the Tofu & bean sprout thing as well)
I invested in some cookbooks and now there is always something yummy in the fridge, because I whip up dishes when I feel like it. (veggies don't go bad as fast as meat).
My friends tell me they'd love to stop eating meat but they don't have time to put into food preparation. I just tell them my body is an engine, I like premium gas and no sugar in the tank! What I don't have time for is all the illnesses associated with not eating healthy.
I really do think most Americans eat too much meat. Most other countries I've visited eat much smaller portions or use little pieces of meat to add flavor.

 

[patandchickens]

mom'sfolly :

An old book advocated becoming vegetarian for just those reasons, Greyfeilds. It advanced the idea that being a vegetarian frees up more food for people; and that the ethical choice is more food for people. "Diet for a Small Planet" is the name of it. I believe it came out in the 1970s.

Hey, if that is an "old" book, and I read it not too long after it came out, what does that make ME, hm?

Pat, shaking her head at the vicissitudes of time and the standard of 'old'

 

[mom'sfolly]

I feel that eating pastured/grass fed meat is a better ethical choice than grain fed meat. Grass fed doen't compete with humans for food, properly managed pastures are sustainable, convential agricultural, in general, is less concerned with the humane production of meat, grass fed meat is more nutrictional and it is better for the animals.

Sorry about my spelling

Pat, old like me.....

I looked, it came out in 1971, so 37 years ago

 

[greyfields]

1971 was 37 years ago already? Dear god.... where has the time gone?

I want to bring up another point. Everytime I eat at an Indian restaurant I want to become a vegetarian and eat every single meal there for the rest of my life. I'm very glad I met my wife (from the UK) where the best Indian restaurants in the World are. I sure miss it down here living rurally.

I could live on Biryani and Potato/Pea samosas alone. I swear!

At least until someone offered me a tenderloin.